hehe, i leave spatter. it ain't just you!i'm sure i used to make people nuts in the gym- one treadmill had a lump on the board, another was squeaky, another i didn't like the display, only two did elevation- I was extremely picky and i'm sure always freaked out the person next to me.

I started C25K today! Got myself some running shoes & pants yesterday and went for my week 1 - day 1 exercise this morning. Feeling very proud of myself, except for hiking I'm not really an 'exercise person'. Bad memories of the cooper test in high school.. :(

Today the universe was trying to sabotage me as well: during my 4th 1 minute run a train passed by so I didn't hear 'Claire' say I could start walking... O_o That was hard! Now when should I go on my next run? In two days?

Thanks torque and Mack! Like you, Mack, I too am a, um, juicy runner. Lotsa sweat and various fluids, coughing and occasional cursing. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to run in a gym with other people!

W9 D1 was difficult, but I brought that on myself with eating too much for breakfast. I felt like a running tub of Earth Balance! But 30 minutes of running. Woot!

And great start, Gnoe -- good for you for starting the process. I think that's the biggest step, believing in yourself enough to attempt it!

It was ok thanks, didn't rain and it was nice not have a screaming baby accompanying me. My boss was a bit shitty about it, because she didn't turn up til lunchtime and expected that I would have just waited for her! Whatevs. She said she'll be there tomorrow, but I'm not waiting for her if she isn't.

I am having an issue though... as soon as I stopped running I get really bad pains in the lower sides of my legs. I hope it doesn't do it again tomorrow, I was struggling to walk during the cooldown! It has happened before, but didn't happen as often when I ran on a treadmill.

I'm a bellend. I pressed the wrong button on my phone this morning and my boss and I were running week 2 day 2 in stead of week 3 day 2 and it took me a while to realise why 'that 3 minutes felt short!' Donut.

Ah well, I'm off work next week so it won't hurt to repeat week 3 then for either of us.

I am having an issue though... as soon as I stopped running I get really bad pains in the lower sides of my legs. I hope it doesn't do it again tomorrow, I was struggling to walk during the cooldown! It has happened before, but didn't happen as often when I ran on a treadmill.

I've been running inside and out lately and the first long outside run i do, the next day my asparagus is so sore that i just want to die. Sore butt. No idea why. I need to remember to do butt stretches (i do plenty of others) but always forget.

have you tried using a foam roller like for IT band stretches? from what i have read it sounds like the kind of pain you might get from that. When I hurt my knee my PT gave me some exercises to do and I do them religiously after every run, one is for the IT band (touch your toes of your right foot to the heel of your left foot and change) but it sounds like the foam roller stuff is easier and would cover down low on your leg too.

I was thinking of you guys yesterday when I did a longer run- you guys are awesome, and before you know it you will be doing 45 min instead of 30!

W6 D1 is really hard! I made my second attempt at it today but I don't seem to be able to get through the second 9min run without taking a break at around 5/6 mins...I know it's partly because I'm pushing myself to stay at or above 8km/h but why's it so much harder than W5D3 which is only 2 mins less running?! I'll try again on Friday!

take it easy and good that you're trying it again. I often did runs 2, or even 3 times. Don't know if you've looked at the couch to 5k forums or any of the other online support places but what everyone seems to say is SLOW DOWN!! You can always punch up the speed later, once you have the endurance to keep moving those feet one after another, right now is just about surviving. 8 is not too shabby, by the by- in the gym yesterday my kid was comparing speeds with everyone around her (she walks, but was just playing around) and she was shocked at how fast 8km is.

Maybe try it at a slower speed Jojo? I did that because I just wanted to get to running 30 minutes, even if slowly. You can always build the speed up later. I was running about 7.5km/h when I was on the treadmill.

welcome to the new runners club, Gnoe! I wasn't an "exercise person" either, but I am loving this program! I say yes to having a day of rest in between run days, I think it really helps. That plus stretching and go slow when you need to!!

fenice, hahaha @ running tub of earth balance... hee. I think I have a good breakfast routine now, I have two small breakfasts - one before the gym and one after. Though today I did not eat enough second breakfast & was hungry again in a couple hours! also, 30 min! WOOOOOOO! GO YOU!

snicker @ torque... I don't so much spatter others, fortunately. My gym clothes were just really smelly that day. I did laundry last night! I have non-smelly clothes now! When I've lost a bit of weight I'll buy new gym pants and have more than 2 pairs... I wanted to get more but they don't have the same ones I bought originally, so I had a tantrum and refused to try on others. ;) It's just as well as I'll be needing smaller ones in a few months anyway.

baps - that's exactly the reason I only download the podcasts one at a time... whichever one is at the top of the "download" list is the week I'm on! I can't believe I need this trick to remember what week I'm on, but I do... You're not alone!

I second the foam roller, they are AWESOME. When I first started my hips were really sore/painful and I read online to try stretching out the IT band with the roller. It makes a HUGE difference. I don't do it every day but I really should, especially my calves. It's painful but in an awesome way, and a really big help. I've even been rolling my shins - they've been getting a bit sore, not full on shin splints I don't think, but I figure it can't hurt to do really good stretching/rolling to help prevent them.

Don't be afraid to slow down, jojo! When I start a new week I always start my run segments a little slower, and purposely slow way down for my recovery walks until I see how I handle the new times (my general speed is 4mph right now... spark people categorizes this as "walking" in the fitness tracker. THE SHAME, hahahaha!) if I can do all the run segments without spending the last minute or two going "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I'M GOING TO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE" I try a faster speed for whichever is the shorter segment. Ex: on day 2 of last week (week 3) I tried going up to 4.3mph for the 90 second run segments, but I stuck with 4.0 for the 3 minute segments since those were pushing my endurance, and even slowed down to 3.8 or 3.9 if needed.

ME UPDATE! Sorry I'm writing huge long posts but I don't have any other C25K friends right now. I leave the gym all YAAAAAAAEY I'M RUNNING ALSO MUST TELL INTERNET FRIENDZ!!!!!!

ANYWAY. I'm on week 4. Did day 1 yesterday, day 2 today (breaking my rest day between rule for the first but I hope only time... my lazy husband wouldn't get up for the gym on monday ;D). Yesterday I did all of my run segments (3 min, then 5 min, then 3 min, then 5min). I had to slow down to 3.9 or 3.8mph in order to finish the last 5min segment, but I did it. Today, I didn't have to slow down below 4 at all, plus I was able to keep my recovery walks at 2.3mph (yesterday I needed to go really slow, like 1.5mph, to pant and recover from my pitiful attempt to run for 5min). And on my last 5 min run I SPED UP for the last minute and a half or so! (what can I say, Ok Go kicks in at juuuuuust the right spot on that one, hahahahaha.) I finished out my last 5 min run at 4.3mph! SUPER exciting.

My general rule of thumb is when I can do all the run segments completely at 4.0mph or higher, and the recovery walks at 2.3mph or higher, I go to the next week. Since today was I think the easiest I have felt on a run (weeeeeeird since the first week 4 run, which was only yesterday, was hard!) I'm going to try for faster on Friday. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

YOU GUYS. I AM EXCITED.

_________________...I am an opinionated prick not a problem solver. -matwinser

Now I remember why I try to keep a continent between me and New Jersey at all times. -torque

you can't compare, guys. i have monster long legs, maybe you don't. i try to take leetle teeny beeny steps and go quick; you try to take longer, more controlled strides. you have longer or shorter legs and it's all just relative. be kind to yourselves!! and tell spark people to go screw. YOU KNOW the difference between walking and running (you know, one hurts more, ha) and that should be good enough.

I decided to stop worrying about speed one day when there was an older guy on one side of me, going really slow but obviously "jogging", not walking, but it was definitely walking speed, and he was DYING. On the other side was My Gym Archnemesis, the spinning teacher, who was doing her usual 10k, without sweating, wearing a cute little jogging skirt and marathon finishing shirt, all smiley and did I mention not spattering anyone with sweat? This woman is In Shape, but i tell you, she was going maybe 7k/h. I thought you know what, maybe this is a sign, and slowed it down and liked it so much better.I didn't start cranking speed til i finished c25k and started doing intervals. Seriously, you guys are doing awesome, don't worry about speed.

Seconding torque... anyone progressing through c25k is doing great! I didn't do the program, per se, but I started from scratch with a mix of walking and running and worked my way up to solid running. Speed comes from speed work, which you can worry about later if you want to be faster. Right now you're all about building that base!

welcome to the new runners club, Gnoe! I wasn't an "exercise person" either, but I am loving this program! I say yes to having a day of rest in between run days, I think it really helps. That plus stretching and go slow when you need to!!

Thanks Mack! I didn't do any stretching the 1st time (didn't know I should) so my body ached an awful lot the past days.. I only got to do my second run today and sure I remembered this time!

Great to hear you were doing so great today, even without a rest day in between! This internetz friend is in awe. ;)

That's only on a treadmill though that I run at 7.5km/h. I am pretty sure I'm way slower than that when I run outside, I feel slower.

Yeah, the speeds I posted *are* my treadmill speeds! Hee!

No worries, I am not beating myself up or anything, I just find it humorous. I may be slow, but any amount of running is a feat for me at this point, so I don't care how slow I am! Even going slow I'm like "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" hahaha. I think Runner Mack is significantly more annoying-- I mean, perky! --than Famous Original Mack. I'll have to ask my coworkers...

Week 4 run 3 tomorrow yaaaaaaaaaaaay! I will not miss Madonna+Justin Timberlake, or La La (shut up, ashlee simpson) but I will miss Ok Go.

Aww, Gnoe! *smishes* just think - in just 3 weeks you'll be in awe of YOURSELF.

torque wrote:

@mack- second breakfast, i love you!!

Hee! Thanks! Back atcha! I don't have elevensies, but I sometimes have afternoon tea...

_________________...I am an opinionated prick not a problem solver. -matwinser

Now I remember why I try to keep a continent between me and New Jersey at all times. -torque

My treadmill speed was really slow because my knees and ankles were burning, but I couldn't stand not to run tonight, because I've been very consistent with the Sun/Tue/Thu runs.

C25K rocks! Nine weeks ago I could barely do the 1 min x 8 runs and I was out of breath at the top of a flight of stairs. This evening I was slow but I ran for 30 minutes again and my endurance is so much better. I'm amazed.

My treadmill speed was really slow because my knees and ankles were burning, but I couldn't stand not to run tonight, because I've been very consistent with the Sun/Tue/Thu runs.

C25K rocks! Nine weeks ago I could barely do the 1 min x 8 runs and I was out of breath at the top of a flight of stairs. This evening I was slow but I ran for 30 minutes again and my endurance is so much better. I'm amazed.

Congratulations! What a great achievement. Over the next few weeks you will find that this becomes easier too (& it will stop being so painful!!!) & then you'll be able to look for a new challenge. Speeding up, running further. I still find it amazing what I am managing to achieve I couldn't even run for 30 seconds when I started.

I'm at the stage of wondering how the hell I ever ran for half an hour when 90 seconds kills me! hahaha. I know I can do it, as I did it before. It just seems so overwhelming when you're in the first few weeks.